Improving performance thanks to a planning management tool

In the context of project management or even on a personal basis, it is always beneficial to manage your time well in a company. However, it can be complex to monitor rigorous tasks without an appropriate tool. This is why the best solution is to integrate a powerful planning management tool into your workflow. By centralizing your information, it will save you time while significantly increasing your performance.

Definition of planning management

Planning management refers to all the actions taken to manage to organize tasks in an optimal way over a given period of time. The aim is to use human and financial resources as efficiently as possible in order to achieve the goals set. This time management can concern individual employees as well as teams.

When the manager deploys planning management, the manager uses it to organize the time of all the employees in his team. He must then create a schedule and define the load plan. The latter will make it possible to ensure that deadlines are met by delivering products or services on time.

What are the types of planning management?

There is no single way to manage workload and implement resource planning. On the contrary, there are numerous methods that respond to different problems. Depending on the constraints and characteristics of your team, it is appropriate to adopt one of these methods in particular.

Retroplanning

This first approach to schedule monitoring is widely used in business. Its name comes from its particularity of starting from the end date of the project. The various tasks are then placed on the calendar backwards to today's date.

The advantage of reverse planning is to ensure that deadlines are respected. Indeed, as soon as the schedule is in place, you can judge whether the objectives can be achieved by respecting the envisaged deadline.

The bar schedule

Also called Gantt chart, the bar schedule is the one you should use if you want to access a visual representation. It takes the form of a graph with an X axis and a Y axis. The tasks are thus represented on a time axis.

The Gantt chart is perfect for identifying the interdependencies that may exist between different tasks in a project.

The graph schedule

The third most common type of schedule is graph planning or PERT network. It is a flowchart that has the particularity of representing tasks in a network. Arrows are added between certain tasks to represent their dependence.

If you decide to use a graph schedule, you can prioritize tasks more easily. You can also quickly understand what tasks can be carried out in parallel by your teams.

The advantages of good planning management

A planning tool allows for more effective project management. By having a global vision of the various tasks to be carried out on a given time scale at all times, it is also a relevant tool for decision support. By selecting adapted planning management solutions, you save time while improving team productivity.

Let's discover the benefits of schedule management in more detail.

Centralize information

The main advantage of planning management software is to centralize information. Instead of looking for different elements to organize the project, a single tool can allow you to access essential data via powerful dashboards.

You can then centralize all sorts of information including employee leave and availability, hours worked, absences, associated costs, etc.

Save time

By providing your team with a planning management tool, you offer them direct access to information. Thus, all employees have access to the tasks to be carried out and to the deadlines to be respected at any time and in any place.

This saves valuable time, as each member of the team can gain autonomy. Indeed, everyone knows with great precision what they should do and what are the challenges of the tasks to be completed.

Communicate effectively

A planning tool is also an essential element in good human resources management. Indeed, by allowing employees to know where the project is at all times, you promote good communication between members and strong involvement. Employees will be more motivated by fully understanding the global and specific challenges of the project.

Meet deadlines

Finally, a planning management tool is of course essential to provide deliverables on time. Indeed, by optimally assigning tasks and monitoring their completion over the weeks, you improve the team's performance and ensure that deadlines are met.

Which planning management tool should you choose?

It is complex to declare which is the best tool or the best software for your schedule management. Depending on various parameters such as your budget, the scope of the project or your information system, the tools can differ greatly.

However, we can identify four types of tools to help you manage your schedule:

• The shared calendar: This easy-to-use tool can be set up to plan, track and share the tasks to be carried out as part of your project. It is only suitable for small projects.
• The dashboards: They also allow task monitoring, but go a bit further, because it is possible to monitor the evolution of the project using performance indicators.
• Planning tools: These are tools like Gantt charts. These are perfect for accessing a visual representation of the project and improving the involvement of employees.
• Collaborative software: They are the most complete tools. In addition to schedule management, the functionalities of the teamwork software can integrate messaging, video conference calls or even task automation.

By selecting the right management software, you will facilitate the work of your teams and save precious time. For this reason, such a tool is a must for successful collaborative work. By increasing group cohesion, by improving the autonomy of employees as well as the visibility of deadlines, you maximize your chances of achieving all time and financial goals.